“Adjust bearing towards marker east-11,” a spotter relayed over the comm.
The laser started moving towards the monstrosity and made contact with it. The creature lurched and started to move away.
“Adjust bearing towards marker east-12 and increase tracking speed twenty percent,” the spotter said. The laser started to touch it again and overcame it.
The glare was too blinding to see what was happening.
“South no visual,” came a voice.
“West no visual,” came a second voice.
“East no visual,” said yet another person.
“North we have visual confirmed. Flashlight is shining brightly on the shadow,” said a final voice.
“We’ve hit it, now burn it down,” said General Morrison on the channel. “Dig a hole to Australia if you need to,” he ordered.
The laser continued to fire for a few more seconds and stopped.
“Shit,” came Admiral Keffler’s voice. “We have a problem. A capacitor overloaded and burnt out. We’re unable to fire again,” said the Admiral.
“Did we kill it,” asked the General?
As the debris settled and the air cooled, they could see more clearly. The ground was scorched and melted into a large ditch that ran from the impact point to the place where it hit the creature and formed a crater. They couldn’t see the bottom of it.
“Get me eyes on the crater and Admiral get that laser running again,” said General Morrison.
“No go, General. The repairs will take at least an hour and I have every man on it. This is a hundred ear old installation and we weren’t given time to do a full maintenance check. You were warned,” said the Admiral.
“No no no no,” said Alicia looking towards the crater.
They turned, and the Tormenter was coming out of it. It was smaller, back to about the size it was when it escaped but it was very much still alive.
“We failed,” she said.
“Damnit. That was working. We’ll get the laser back online and try again,” said the General.
The Tormenter came in their general direction.
“Creature deviating from the standard path. New bearing towards marker east-2,” said the spotter.
“That’s us,” said Major General Elam.
“We need to move,” said Alicia.
“Go. I’ll stop it,” said Sebastian drawing his sword.
“We’re going to stop it not you,” said Chelsea.
He looked at her and nodded.
“You two don’t have anything to prove and as your High Lord I order you to retreat with us,” said Alicia.
“This isn’t about the Wardens and it has to be done,” Sebastian told her.
“You couldn’t do it before with your entire group of knights and the help of the Masters what makes this difference?” Alicia asked him.
“Because we’re together this time,” said Chelsea.
“And they do not fight alone. They have the support of your army, the Wardens and two Masters,” said Nefertiti.
“Make three and a very strong apprentice,” came Boudicca’s voice from behind them.
The group turned and Boudicca and Trish were walking towards them.
“I heard the Earth scream and knew it must be anticipating your battle. I came immediately,” Boudicca told them.
“How? You can't teleport and there haven't been any shuttle arrivals. This is a closed air zone except for the military,” said Chelsea.
“I had help from an old friend. I'll explain later. Time is of the essence,” Boudicca replied.
“General, once we start can you have your people hit that thing with everything they have. Don’t worry about our safety. We’ll be fine and even if we’re not, this thing has to be stopped,” said Sebastian.
The General stood up and put his hand out. Sebastian took it.
“You have my word son. We came heavy in case of a fight and that firepower will have your back, Lieutenant,” General Morrison told him.
“I’ll be damned if I let you two kill yourselves,” said Alicia.
“Alicia, go back to NY. The Wardens need you and you can’t help here,” said Chelsea.
Sebastian and Chelsea started moving towards the Tormentor with weapons ready.
“This is General Morrison to field command. All ordinance converge on the Tormentor. Fire at will and continue to fire until I tell you to stop. If you run out of ammo or your power packs run dry throw rocks at it,” he said over his comm.
“General Morrison we have several civilians approaching the engagement zone,” said a voice.
“I know. Ignore them and follow my orders, soldier. Morrison out.”
The Tormentor was moving towards them. Sebastian and Chelsea broke into a sprint and moved with the speed of a cheetah, closing the distance fast as the roar of attack craft could be heard getting closer.
“General, we have another problem. Radar shows hostiles inbound, ground and air. Recon says they have ALF markings. The force isn’t large but could pose a problem if they hit the engagement zone,” said a comm officer.
“Well, shit,” said the General. “Divert fighters to intercept. We can’t have them interfering with this fight. Hit them hard and fast and get those fighters back here,” he ordered.
The Tormentor slowed as they approached and black tendrils arcing with electricity shot towards them. They avoided them, jumping and dodging faster than the Tormentor could react. It created more and more of them and eventually managed to grasp both of them with tentacles. They cut through the misty tendrils with their blades and they dissipated into the nothingness they came from.
Boudicca and Trish were not as effective against it. When they realized their nature magic wasn’t having much effect, they pulled back to the medical area to help with wounded.
Ra and Nefertiti were in the thick of the fight. They had a blade in each hand and were moving at a speed that rivaled that of Sebastian and Chelsea. They cut and slashed through tendrils and fired their divine light at the Tormentor as attacks of opportunity allowed, helping punch a hole through the tendrils for Sebastian and Chelsea to breach its defenses and engage the bulk of the monstrosity.
Sebastian and Chelsea quickly reach the beast with the assistance of their Egyptian allies. The two of them stood facing it. Even after the damage from Serendipity, it was huge. It was about thirty feet in diameter now. It’s billowing mass continued to create the tentacle projections and the two of them continued to chop through them until they could almost touch its core. The mass started to shift and formed a face. The Tormentor launched towards them and the mouth on the newly formed face engulfed them.
Jets and artillery were firing a heavy barrage of energy weapons at the Tormentor no longer going for diversion or driving it but outright attacking it. It had stopped moving and created more of the tendrils as it moved towards the artillery. The close-range vehicles were faster than the Tormentor and for some time managed to maneuver on their anti-grav thrusters to avoid the beast's attacks. The monster kept creating the tendrils and they became longer and more accurate with each iteration, eventually managing to hit the fast-moving military vehicles.
“It’s adapting to our tactics,” said the General.
“I noticed,” said Alicia.
“They only need to keep it busy. The slower, heavy artillery will be firing in a moment,” he told her.
Despite the thing seeming to be made of a mixture of smoke and shadow, its tentacles grabbed several of the fast attack craft and smashed them on the ground and the physical munitions impacted on its surface as if it were a solid mass.
“I hope they hurry. You’re going to lose a lot of people if this goes on long,” said Alicia.
“Everyone on this field knows that and doesn’t question it. We came to this fight knowing we might die. It's a soldier's duty,” he told her.
“And a Warden's,” she said as she saw it engulf the two heroes. “I hope we didn't just watch them die.”
Some of the GloCom forces were breaking off to engage the ALF hostiles. The area was utter chaos with lasers and railguns firing in every direction as ALF fighters entered the area. Machines were exploding and the entire field was a debris cloud.
#
Inside the Tormentor was quiet and peaceful. They couldn’t see or hear the battle raging outside. They could see each other and a figure in shadow backlit by the electrical arcs was with them. The scene was beautiful in a way.
“Arthur. Guinevere. You shouldn’t be fighting me. You should be joining me,” said the shadowy form.
“And tell me, Mordred, why should we do that?” asked Sebastian, recognizing the voice despite not being able to make out any features of the figure.
“Because we are the same. We want order and peace. The mortals need a strong hand to guide them or they become lost,” Mordred replied.
“They had peace. You broke that peace when you broke the Seal,” said Chelsea.
“The natural order had to be restored. Can’t you see that? The Masters were gone. They were supposed to sleep. You were dead. This world would have stumbled but I would have helped them stand,” he said.
“You didn’t know about the Wardens, did you. You didn’t anticipate that your father had contingencies in place for this occurrence. You’re just an ambitious, power-hungry child,” Sebastian said.
“I knew of your Wardens. I have been waiting in the shadows. Watching. Biding my time for the Seal to be weak enough to break. It was you I didn’t expect,” Mordred replied.
“You’re a fool. You think power gives you the right to rule. The right to rule is derived from the people,” Chelsea told him.
“NO! I am beyond the humans. I am beyond the Masters. My blood is stronger than theirs. It is my birthright to rule,” he replied.
“How so? What makes you so special and gives you the right to control the world?” asked Chelsea.
“You don’t feel it? You don’t sense what I am? What you are? We’re brethren. We are Atlanteans. My mother passed her gifts to me. I don’t know your lineage but I can feel that same blood in you. Join me. Reclaim what was taken from us and rise above the mortals. We are gods and above them,” said the shadow.
“We are not above anyone. You are right though, we are brothers. We’re humans. Mortal, Master, Atlantean, it doesn’t matter. We’re all one and the same. We all have the same connection to each other and to life and no one has the right to control or take that from any other person,” said Chelsea.
“Then you have chosen your side and as much as it pains me to kill my brother and sister Atlanteans I do what must be done,” the shadow said.
Arcs of electricity engulfed the two and they screamed. Inside the energy was far more powerful than it was outside.
#
“General it’s not looking good. They can’t put a dent in that thing,” said Alicia.
“We’re not trying to win. We’re trying to buy time for your two people inside that thing if they’re even alive. We’ll fight to the last man if we have to,” said the General.
“I wish I could do something. I feel useless standing here watching the fight from a safe distance,” said Alicia.
“Are you rated for delta series short range energy canons?” asked the General.
“I don’t know what that is so I can’t say,” she replied.
“It’s a plasma cannon with a short range and big burst. It’s mostly point and shoot, think you can handle something like that?” asked the General.
“What do you have in mind?” she said.
“You see those vehicles? A lot of them lost their crew but they’re still intact. Back before I became an officer I used to pilot one in the early days of the Unification and I was pretty good at it. Half my medals are from those days,” he said.
“You’re not thinking...” she said.
“I’m thinking it. I can pilot it but they’re two-man vehicles. I need a gunner,” he said.
She smiled at the man. “Let’s do it,” she said and they ran to the closest one. He surveyed the damage and cleared the vehicle for use. He helped her strap into the gunner’s chair and then strapped into the pilot’s seat.
“Hang tight, these things are fast,” he said as they shot into the air.
#
Sebastian and Chelsea arched and spasmed with each jolt. Sebastian managed to shield himself and Chelsea followed suit a moment later. They looked around. The darkness was only broken by the occasional flash of electricity as it danced over their shields like a Tesla coil, the electricity flowing over the shields like a rainbow-colored web. Sebastian started firing blasts from his shield but couldn’t tell if they had any direct impact. Chelsea was doing the same and as they did, more and more of the arcs started hitting their shields.
“I think we pissed it off,” said Chelsea.
Their barriers held for a while but were weakening as they started to lose strength.
“I can’t keep this up forever,” she told Sebastian.
“We need to figure something out,” he told her.
They eventually had to stop attacking and focus entirely on their barriers and soon even those gave out. The electricity continued to blast them and they starting to fade and soon even the bright light of the electricity was dim. With his last ounce of energy, he reached out for Chelsea’s hand and took it.
“I love you, Chelsea,” he said as another blast hit him.
“I love you, Sebastian,” she replied.
The pair's eyes turned a bright yellow with a slitted pupil and their skin took on a red hue. A blue flame formed where their hands joined and started to grow larger.
#
Abraham’s head was starting to clear from the Antitox. He didn’t feel useful in the fight, so he had headed to the medical area and was helping Boudicca and the medics. He had some basic medical training like all Wardens, so they put him to use.
As he was helping put a wounded man on a table, a vehicle crashed nearby. It was an ALF vehicle and several of the terrorists were still alive after the crash. Boudicca turned from the man she was healing but Abraham stopped her.
“I’ll handle this. You’re a hell of a lot better at saving lives than me so keep doing what you’re doing, and I’ll take care of these assholes,” he told her.
He grabbed a rifle from a wounded soldier and headed towards the enemies. They took a few shots at him but his nanomesh dissipated the energy. He was firing in return and was a better shot. He had taken cover behind some wreckage and was exchanging fire with them. He changed over to grenades and fired one, killing the last two of the enemies.
He cautiously approached and confirmed the kills. As he was returning, two more people were heading towards the medical shelter and one was taking aim at Trish with a rifle. She was so focused on healing a soldier she didn’t even realize they were there.
Abraham shot the guy from behind but as good a shot as he was, age had taken much of his reflexes and eyesight and at that distance, the shot only winged him. They turned and started firing. A shot caught Abraham in the side of the head and he felt the blood flow. They hit him where his old wounds were and many of those nerves were dead so he couldn’t tell if it was bad or not.
“Now you’ve pissed me off,” Abraham yelled at them.
The two men and Abraham were firing at each other with no cover. Abraham’s armor was handling the blasts. He took one out and the other one clipped him again, this time across his left hand rendering it useless. He couldn’t fire the rifle appropriately with one hand, so he charged at the man with everything he had. As he got closed, he pulled his blade, extended it and jumped, driving the blade into the man’s chest. As he impacted, the man managed to pull his own knife and it sank deep into Abraham's abdomen, the vibroblade managing to pierce his body armor.
Boudicca heard the fight and ran to him. As she got there, Abraham was laying on the ground in a pool of blood from a large wound on the side of his head and the hole in his gut wi
th the knife still in it.
“Abraham! Abraham, are you okay?” Boudicca asked.
“I don't think so, hot stuff. Can you help me with my flask?” he asked her.
“That's not a good idea. Medics are coming, you'll be okay,” she told him as she applied a pressure bandage to the side of his head and tried to slow the blood flow from the knife wound.
“Cut the shit, red. We both know I'm done. I already getting light headed from the blood loss. I can't feel how bad my head is, but I can feel the knife in my stomach and that copper taste is hard to mistake. My time is done. At least help a dying man have a drink,” he said.
She was trying to remain optimistic for him and helped him get his flask out and take the lid off.
“At least the knife missed my flask,” he said coughing up blood. “I brew this myself,” he said and took a drink then handed her the flask. “Drink up gorgeous. I always wanted to die a hero saving a beautiful woman,” he said then started coughing again.
She took a drink and said, “Save your strength Abraham,” as the medics got to them and started treating him.
“I hoped that would come after a long torrid weekend with her, but we can't win them all,” he said and tried to laugh but started to lose consciousness.
“Abraham, stay with me. Stay awake,” she pleaded.
He looked up at her and said “Tell Sebastian and Chelsea I love them,” and closed his eyes. A tear fell from Boudicca’s cheek as she felt the life in him fade. She reached down and closed his eyes. She took another drink and started crying.
#
The General and High Lord were dodging the tentacles and she was firing as fast as the gun’s capacitor would let her. She was taking shots at the Tormentor and ALF as either presented a target. They both knew it was useless but neither was willing to give up. The ground was littered with broken vehicles and dead bodies from both sides and only the long range cannons and aircraft were untouched but they didn’t have any visible effect on the Tormentor.
“If we get through this I’m going to buy you a drink,” said the General.
“I know a great bar in NY,” she told him.
The General was a good pilot if a bit rusty, occasionally banging against a downed craft or skimming a bit too close to the ground. The ever-increasing number of obstacles didn’t help. The small craft danced around tendrils and over flaming debris and Alicia continued to fire at the Tormentor then it stopped attacking them. All of the tendrils withdrew. The arcs of electricity faded and the amorphous mass became a smooth round ball. Then it exploded. From inside blue flames poured out and washed over the battlefield engulfing everything within a few hundred feet.
The Seal of Solomon Page 43